Lifeless
by TMNT Fan Artist
Summary: It started out as a normal conversation with fearless which, as usual, turned into an argument. We were both barkin at each other, I was tryin to understand what was really going on, and what the heck sensei told him, then, he just stopped. He fell still. I was confused and shook him, tryin to get a reaction out of him. Nothing. He just stared at me, not moving. Almost lifeless...
1. Chapter 1

Jeez, Fearless has been on edge all week for some reason. Everytime I ask him about it, he always either changes the subject, or tells me it's nothing I should worry about. Heh. Yeah right. No one looks stiff and uneasy for no reason pal. He also seems a bit more frustrated than usual now that I think about it. Like somethings on his mind that he just can't shake off. Was it because of the talk he and Sensei had earlier this week? Heh. Bet you're confused. Well better start this from the beginning of the week. Trust me, you'll get curious about Leo's strange behavior as well.

* * *

Beginning of the week.

It was pretty calm around here. Weird, right? Well, I guess that's what happens when Mike's off reading comic books or something in his room, and that brainiac wasn't making things explode every five minutes. oh well. Anyway. The lair was quiet, so I took the opportunity read a bit of one of my magazines before the moment was gone.

as I was reading, I realized something. Where was Leo? I haven't heard from him at all today, or even seen him for that matter. So, I got up and decided to look in the dojo. Maybe he went in there to train early this morning. I got to the door to the dojo when suddenly I heard Splinter's voice coming from the other side. I peeked in and saw that he was lecturing a knelt down form of Leonardo. I couldn't make out what he was saying, but if the conversation was taking all day, then it had to be really important. Then suddenly, Leo spoke.

"Sensei, I know. But I just don't know anymore. I understand that we have had this talk before, but I really just think the burden is just too heavy now. Maybe it would be best if it was just never meant to be. With all due respect Master Splinter, I just can't carry the responsibility anymore." he spoke. "I just don't want any of my brothers, or you, to get hurt if I fail."

What the hell are they talking about? At first I thought they were talking about the leader role, but he has never complained about the role this much. he looked crushed. I wish I could help him, but I don't know what their talking about in order for me to give advice.

"Leonardo! How can you think of just abandoning your family? This problem can be fixed if you believe in yourself. You are able to control yourself. That's all that matters." Splinter was about to continue, but Leo cut him off.

"But what if I _can't?_ I'm sorry Sensei for interrupting you, but I just don't know if I can." Leo lowered his head.

The fuck? 'If he can't'? Can't what?

"It is final my son, You are not going to abandon this family, along with your friends. You WILL fix this problem, you are NOT going to think this way ever again. Understood?" Sensei practically shouted.

There was a silence between the two for a while, but Leo finally answered. "Hai sensei…"

Splinter knelt down in front of Leo and put a hand on his shoulder. "control is important. If you let go of it, it will become self destructive. Keep it in check my son." I could barely make out what he said, but it was loud enough for me to hear it. "You are dismissed." Crap. I got up from where I was kneeling, god knows when I became like that, and hopped back to my seat I was in before with my magazine.

Soon after, Leo had exited the dojo on his way to the kitchen. I decided to get up and talk to him, though, I knew it was not the time to talk about what he and sensei were talking about, so I decided to keep it in mind for later. Even though I knew it was going to be hard to get my mind off it.

As I entered, right away I noticed something about him. He was stiff. I walk up to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

As soon as I touched him he jumped as if he was shocked, and turned to face me. His eyes were huge and dilated. He was shaking a bit as well. That's when I knew something was up. "Woe Leo, you ok there bro?"

It looked like he physically relaxed a bit, but he was still pretty tense. "Yeah Raph, i'm fine."

"You sure? Looked like I scared you pretty good for just putting my hand on your shoulder…" I replied crossing my arms.

"Yeah, you just startled me is all. I didn't hear you coming." There was a silence between us for a few seconds, then I broke it.

"So, where were you all day? Never saw you this morning, or at lunch. What's going on?" I questioned further.

"I got up early this morning to do some training. I guess I was working hard, and was 'in the zone' as Mikey would put it, to be able to miss lunch." He coolly responded. Yeah, train my ass.

"You sure there wasn't anything else? Cause i'm pretty sure your body won't let you do that. But that's what I think considering i'm not Donnie and don't know as much as he does." I commented

"Yeah Raph. I'm sure. Why are you asking me these questions? Worried about me being missing?" He said with that cocky smile on his face I wish I could wipe off.

"Hey, if I don't see one of my brothers all day, Minus donnie cause he's always in his stupid lab, I know something's up." I returned the gesture.

He stiffened. The fuck? "... Nothing is wrong Raphael. Now please, just drop it" he said. I could see his fingers twitching at his side. He really wanted me to drop it, so I did."

"Whatever. Hey, wanna spar later? you know, I would ask if we could do it now, but seeing as if you trained all day, I won't make you work even harder right now." I said with a hint of sarcasm, hoping he didn't catch it.

"Nonsense, I'm up for it. You know I'm up for more training bro." he said with a challenging smirk.

"Then let's go Leo." I tugged him to the dojo. 'Damn. He's really stiff. what the heck is wrong with him?' I thought.

As we got to the dojo, we grabbed our weapons and got into our positions and got ready to fight. And of course, Leo stuck first. He sprung towards me with both swords out. I quickly leaped out of the way and kicked out at his direction. I hit him on the side, but that didn't seem to stop him. Instead, he flipped backwards, then leaped at me again. He tackled me and we rolled around on the ground for a second, then he kicked me off and my shell hit the tree, with a loud thud. I never feel to the ground though, I stayed on my feet and looked up. Something seemed off about him again. He looked as if her were fighting with himself and sparing with me at the same time. That didn't seem to bother him though and continued sparring.

"Leo, you don't look ok, do you want to stop for a moment?" I asked him, not wanting him to hurt himself, or me.

"No, It's fine, just a little headache" He said as he kicked out at me. I dodged and punched out and hit the side of his head. He was paralyzed for a moment, but then flipped me over his shell with one hand. I wasn't expecting it. and before I knew it. I was flat on the ground.

I looked up to see Leo towering over me. "nice try little brother." he mocked with that cocky smile back on his face.

"Yeah yeah. Next time I will beat you." I declared. We laughed.'

"Rematch?" I asked after a while.

"Oh yeah!" he agreed. Then after that, we spared till it was time for patrol, but I still couldn't shake the conversation between him and sensei, or the way he was acting after that.

* * *

He has gotten worse ever since that day, and I'm starting to get really concerned. I don't know what to do. I still haven't figured out what he 'Can't do' either. *sigh* I will figure it out sooner or later...


	2. Chapter 2

I don't know how, but something that happened tonight has made Leo worse! I don't get it! We were just on patrol and nothing really happened besides running into a couple foot. I mean, we always run into them all the time! What made tonight so different?

I still haven't figured out what he and Sensei were talking about that night, which is really starting to piss me off. And again I ask; Can't? Can't freaking what? Ugh.. I don't know. Later I'll ask Donnie about it. Maybe he has seen Leo's behavior change, or at least know what the fuck he "can't" do. Damn, I can't think about this any longer. I want to know, but don't want to ask Leo about it. I might sound pushy. But…. You know what? Fuck it. I'm asking him tonight.

It was quiet after we got back from patrol. Mike and Don had gone to bed, and Leo went to the dojo because Splinter called him in for another talk. Damn The fuck? At this point I was waiting for Leo. I didn't want him to be alone when he got out. especially since his little "problem" started. It had been a while so I peeked into the dojo to see what was up. I looked in to find that Leo was meditating under that big tree we have. I walked in and, I guess, Leo knew I was there. He snapped out of meditation and stood up. I walked towards him.

It started out as a normal conversation with fearless, trying to figure out what the hell was going on with him. Which, as usual, turned into an argument. We were both barking at each other for a good few minutes, I was trying to understand what was really going on, and what the heck sensei was talking to him about, then suddenly, he just stopped. He fell still. I was confused and shook him, trying to get a reaction out of him. Nothing. He just stared at me, not moving. Almost lifeless…

I panicked. The fuck just happened? By this point I started shaking him. "Leo. Come on dude, this isn't fucking funny. Quit it already!" I shouted at him. I let go of him and he falls to the ground. His eyes still open. Like he was frozen in time or some crap. I run out of the room and immediately sprint to Don's room as quick as I could without waking Mike.

I don't bother knocking and just burst into his room. His head shot off his pillow. Boy, I didn't know anyone could look THAT pissed to be woken up. "Raph, what do you want? This better be important or I'm going back to bed." He mumbled.

"Oh, Ok. So I can just leave and let you sleep if you don't want to help Leo. That's fine. It's not like there's something completely wrong with him or anything. I guess sleep is better than our brother. Ok, good night." I sarcastically snapped at him, pretending to leave the room.

"Wait. What do you mean? What happened to him? Is he ok?" He jumped out of his bed and tried to get around me.

"Well of course there's something wrong with him yea fuck brain. That's what I just said!" I yelled, grabbing his wrist and bringing him to the dojo.

He saw Leo and yanked free from my grip. He kneeled down, lifted Leo up and said, "I need to get him to my lab to get a better look at him. It's the lighting in here that I can't deal with for this." He was struggling with holding him.

"ok.." I watch him struggle for a little longer. "You need help bro?"

Donnie Looks up. "Yes. Yes I do."

I sigh and shake my head with a small smirk, then go over to help Donnie out.

Soon we get Leo to the lab and set him down onto one of the cots Don has set up in there. I'm sitting in a chair I moved to his side as I wait for Donnie to figure out what the hell is wrong wit 'im. As I was waiting, I looked at Leo and what I noticed was what made my concern shoot through the roof. Leo's skin will slightly changing to a green with solid gray tint to it. His eyes got pale as well. I turned back to Donnie.

"Ya might want to hurry yourself up over there." I pushed. "Cause I'm pretty sure that this ain't a normal shade o' green."

"No need to hurry." Donnie replied. "I think I found out what happened." He came from his desk with a piece of paper with a bunch of scribbled on words and started to read. "I think what happened was that stress put his body into temporal shutdown.(Pretty sure this ain't a thing but let's just go with it.)"

"Meaning…." I said with a small rolling hand gesture.

"It means that the amount of stress that was pushed onto his body over maybe a year, has finally taken effect and has caused his body to shut down. Meaning not just his outer parts. His brain seemed to have slowed down to a scary rate as well."

"How long will this happen for?" Still not clear with what exactly happened.

"I don't know. All I know is that if there was too much stress put upon his body, like an insane amount of stress, then the shutdown would be permanent and he will be stuck like this for good. But the good news is that I am 95% sure that that isn't the case. The bad news is, is that there is no cure for this. All we can do is wait."

"_Wait". _I hate that word. waiting makes me feel powerless. Like I should be able to do something for this but can't. I hate this feeling. But Don was right. I have to wait. Dammit. I huffed then turned to Leo. 'God dammit Leo. Why did you get so worked up? You know I can help you out with every damn thing you have your chest.' I thought then settled down in the chair. If you think I'm going to Just get up and go to bed, you thought wrong and have something wrong with your mind. No I settled down into my chair and wasn't planning to get up and leave his side for the rest of the night and possibly the rest of the week.

"We will tell Mikey in the morning. I don't feel like waking him up to tell him 'Oh hey Mike, just wanted to tell you that Leo's in a body shut down for god knows how long. Ok good night' and I'm pretty sure you don't want to do that either." I reported.

Donnie pause and looked at me for a moment. Must be processing what I just said in that slow tired brain of his. Short time after he sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, let's just leave him be til morning. He's going to need to know sooner or later Raph."

Yea I know, Don I'm not stupid." I lazily glared at him. "Anyway, I'm going to stay in here with Leo just incase something happens in the middle of the night." I reported.

"... It is the middle of the night bro." Genius corrected like I was 7.

I glared a little more. "Whatever. Night bro." I leaned in my chair to get comfortable.

"Goodnight Raph." He smirked before turning off the lights and going to bed.

I look over to Leo. "Damn. You are going to be the death of me if you keep giving me heart attacks like this." I whispered playfully. "Oh well. Night big brother."

I shifted once more before falling into a dreamless slumber.

**o.o You guys are probably made at me for leaving this alone for 2 months. Sorry. Didn't realize it was that long ago when I did that chapter -.-'**


End file.
